1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a remote monitoring apparatus, method and program that monitors an operation state of a plurality of audio amplifiers connected to a network.
2. Background Art
A professional audio system is known that is used in a sound reinforcement system (also known as a public address or PA system) in a concert hall, or that is used for a music production. In the audio system, there are increasing cases where a number of audio amplifiers are used therewith, and therefore, a monitoring system is used in order to monitor the respective audio amplifiers to know whether or not the audio amplifiers in the audio system are operating normally. In such a case, the audio system is networked so that the audio amplifiers to be monitored are connected to a network, and the monitoring system collects from the respective audio amplifiers, status information representing the operation state of the audio amplifier, and displays the collected status information in a display device.
The prior monitoring system is configured to display a list of all the audio amplifiers present on a network or to display the audio amplifiers in a tree representation. Then, the monitoring system selects an audio amplifier to be monitored from the list or the tree representation of the audio amplifiers displayed in the display deice, and displays the status information of the selected audio amplifier in the display device, thereby monitoring the operation state of the audio amplifier.
However, when the list or the tree representation of the audio amplifiers is displayed in the display device, the audio amplifiers are displayed on the order of a device ID (identification) number that identifies a device. Therefore, it is difficult to know a location or a performance of the respective audio amplifiers in a concert hall or a theater and a location or a performance of a speaker through which an audio output of an audio amplifier is emitted. Accordingly, it takes much labor and time to locate an audio amplifier to be monitored from the list or the tree representation displayed in the display device. It is particularly difficult to locate an audio amplifier to be monitored when tens or hundreds of audio amplifiers are used in the audio system installed in a place such as a concert hall or a theater.